


The Other One - The Tale of the Scarlet Thread

by Jberry



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Created before season 4, Death is the central point of this poetry fic, Major Original Character(s), Sherlock (TV) Season/Series 04 Fix-it, death is not Sherlock or John, redbeard is a dog
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-16
Updated: 2015-03-17
Packaged: 2018-03-18 04:24:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 2,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3555914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jberry/pseuds/Jberry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the story of Meringen Holmes.</p><p>The thread that Sherlock wraps around the left most coat button, the coat button near his heart. Let us unravel it, and follow it, backwards and sideways. </p><p>Mycroft once said of Sherlock that he has the mind of philosopher or a scientist but elects to be a detective.</p><p>It is a fact that when he was a child he wanted to be a pirate.</p><p> </p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

This is the story of Meringen Holmes. 

You've not heard of Meringen because Mycroft Holmes didn't want you to. His minor post in the British government is actually running the entire British government. He always exaggerated by downplaying or sidestepping the truth. 

So, in fact, the rumors are accurate that Mycroft and Sherlock do not have another brother. But, this is the story of "The Other One," the one Mycroft has alluded to when he's made it clear he has no problem sending his younger brother into dangerous territory. He likes you to think he's cold and without care. Again, downplaying or sidestepping the truth. 

When Mycroft carries his umbrella, that is childhood sentiment. As much as he rallies against it. 

When Sherlock wears that large coat, even when it's warm, that is childhood sentiment. As much as Mycroft tries to convince Sherlock that he is a machine. As much as Sherlock tries to tell you he's a sociopath. 

Haven't you wondered? As you read the newspapers, have you not wondered what is in between the lines? The crimes, the travels, the many happy returns. The stopped assassinations. The deaths that haven't happened. Bond Air. 

You will be clearly taught how the two brothers have taken bits of their sister to carry with them along the way. And how, once you have the full story, how terrible the two brothers are at lying. 

Redbeard is both a childhood best friend and code between the two of what transpired on June 12, 1992. What happened to _"Ginny"_ , Redbeard, and the Holmes brothers. The lines between the gaps and the scarlet thread that weaves in between dates and out of dreams and nightmares. 

The scarlet thread is not linear. Threads, in their nature, loop and tangle, create knots, break and restart. This thread will be deep and rich colored in places, and light and pink and near virginal white in others. This may frustrate you. It may delight you. But you cannot say you have not been warned.

You may not believe the stories wound on this thread. It may seem unbelievable to you. Far fetched. Insane. Psychotic. Romantic. Hastily created after the fact. In walking the thread backwards, it should be clear to you how everything is linked to the thread. The thread that Sherlock wraps around the left most coat button, the coat button near his heart. Let us unravel it, and follow it, backwards and sideways. 

Mycroft once said of Sherlock that he has the mind of philosopher or a scientist but elects to be a detective.

It is a fact that when he was a child he wanted to be a pirate. 

Let us explore chemistry, science, philosophy, and piracy. Not necessarily in that order. 

So this is the sign of three, the final problem, a case of a certain identity. There are gables, and bridges, and abbeys. Experiments, writing, reading, deduction. 

We begin, then, at a tree. A tree near a short, red house in the countryside. A tree with carved into it three sets of initials. WSSH, MVH, MNRH. The ballast of a great pirate ship. 

The scarlet thread will weave and wave, jumping over times, turning the years into but an hourglass. On your imaginary forces this must work. But know, at least, we will begin, and end, our tale at the tree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) See the opening of Henry V


	2. Chapter 2

It's unclear who begins the game. On June 18th, 1992, Mummy Holmes and Daddy Holmes will assert that it was Ginny. As the authority figures, everyone takes their word as gospel, and repeats the story as legend. 

Thundering out of the door, the scrawny thing runs to the tree, her knees scraped and her knuckles bruised. If you look down, from the top of the tree, the top of the mast, all three of the wild ones have hair that looks unbrushed, untamed. The young girl has an umbrella she is poking the other two with. From this position, it's difficult to hear exactly what is said. But the taller, gangly boys listen to what she says. 

She yells march.   
They march. 

She yells that they are to walk the plank.   
They walk in a straight line across the yard. 

They create eye patches, wear boots, grab coats and shirts and borrow and beg anything from the house. If you listen, you can hear them shaking out their mother's purse for change, rummaging through a side office for bits of metal. Their treasures. 

It all gets buried beneath the tree. 

They carve their initials into it, the scrape of white wood and bark falling down. Their father scolds them, but oh! He's too kind. His voice and demeanor will do nothing to keep them from finishing the initials. They take their time, carving them deep, imprinting them. 

Years and years the initials will be there. The house will be long gone before the tree. Their mark will still be there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Book Thief. Zusak.   
>  the reading of.   
>  inspiration by.


	3. Chapter 3

a deep scarlet thread  
between the sniper gun and the doctor head

the bravest heart  
will be left dead

the thread is taught through the window pane across the street without regard for life or breath and burning heart out of failed

bullet will not

wild one cuts the thread

by her own gun at sniper's head

convinced with snarling words and sinking breath

do you see the pulse as movement, blood on pavement, faking death 

heart still beats

heart inside his body still beats

heart outside his body still beats

sniper holding the scarlet thread 

was cut with the scissors 

of a pirate who ran the moor

abbey windows, broken trees, the apple blossoms in the breeze, a flash of wool, the clash of teeth

on this you will not snipe my brother's heart


	4. Chapter 4

Oh, you are still here. 

Looking down upon this now, this contemplation,

You must think it a mess. 

This catalogue of dates and times and places is not for you. You may ride along, as they say, but this is not your party. 

A date we may choose to observe would fall on January 6, 1976. A special, incredibly vexing baby's birthdate. A child with silver eyes, otherworldly, pale complexion, and small tufts of Indian ink hair. 

The Captain was 8. The first mate was 6. The newest crew member was a day old, reaching chubby fingers to grab at the red curls within his reach. 

The wild one, Ginny, first told her brother, "I hate you." as she sulked away, holding a bald patch on the back of her head. 

The Captain, the third parent, the one born as an adult, regarded the baby with a scowl. He imagined he would lose studying time from the baby's crying. That this little tub of bother would ruin his life. 

His heart, however, beat inside that little baby's chest. A scarlet thread, as deep red and black as can be made, linked that Captain to that baby's heart that was no bigger than his pinky.

They want you to think it's not there. But we can see it, can't we?


	5. Chapter 5

In her box of treasures, she makes her brothers each a token to carry with them. If they are shipwrecked, they can show it, and the people they show it to will help guide them home. 

First Mate William receives a matchbox wrapped in red thread. Inside the matchbox is a shiny coin. 

First Mate William, ~~now Sherlock,~~ now Shezza, is thundering in his veins. Singing into darkness on dirty mattresses and long ago tales. He's mumbling to no one in particular. He's talking to some homeless bloke who threatens to call emergency services. 

~~Sherlock~~ Shezza is winding off the red thread from the matchbox and sewing it into the buttonhole of his father's old coat. His hands are shaking. He realizes he doesn't have a sewing needle. 

He screams and kicks at emergency services when they pick him up. 

He won't leave without his coat. His matchbox. His penny his thread. 

Over and over he asks and asks. The cocaine leaving him grasping and choking and drowning and wailing. 

My coat. My matchbox. My penny. My thread. 

When ~~Shezza~~ Sherlock is awake and aware, he sees Mycroft in the corner of the hospital room. 

Sewing red thread onto his coat's buttonhole.

When Mycroft is done, the Captain lays the coat over Sherlock, and lays beside his brother in the bed. They shake, and cry. 

"You can't. You can't do this to me. You can't. No. Not you. Not you," Mycroft rocks, and cries, and Sherlock is terrified.

Sherlock has to make Mycroft a confidant. 

He sewed the buttonhole.

He's the only other one in the world with a token.


	6. Chapter 6

Redbeard

is a pressure point because he is the crux of everything. Good memories, terrible memories, everything all wrapped into one word.

The brothers, between the two of them, gave each other this code word. Or the code phrase. 

_Remember Redbeard_

Ginny gave her brothers tokens. 

You know Sherlock's red thread. On the coat that he carries. Oh, the coat? Their father's. It played the role of a businessman, a blanket, a thief, a cape. It was a personality in itself. It was right for Sherlock to grow into it. 

Mycroft's token is kept at home. He doesn't carry it with him, it's broken. But he carries an exact replica with him. You've seen it. You know. His umbrella. But, to the three little pirates, much like the coat, it was more. A sword. Mary Poppins's parasol. A military parachute. 

They have their tokens, in case they are shipwrecked. 

so others can help them find their way back.


	7. Chapter 7

"Remember Redbeard"

do not forget

you are the most important person

 

do not lose yourself over something

 

never think that I want you to ~~sacrifice~~    die for me or die for anything I have or anything I own 

do not let your heart break into pieces so you cannot be put back together

remember

 

you do not run across so fast I cannot catch you 

 

do not leave where I cannot find you

 


	8. Chapter 8

Mummy Holmes has threatened to turn monstrous with whomever put a bullet in her boy

 

Mycroft and Sherlock exchange looks at this statement, as she carries the crackers across the kitchen. They have watched her rail and weep and scream and beat her fists against walls. They have seen her not shower or eat for weeks on end. They have watched her walk away for hours in the fields. She's prayed for hours in the moor, the abbey, the bridges.

 

Mary doesn't know her death walks in the room next door, that her destruction makes her tea

 

Mummy Holmes will make up for any past transgressions with vigor


	9. Chapter 9

Looking down on the little pirate now, you wouldn't recognize her. She's taller, lanky, bossier. Her eyes are gray green. The eldest boy, whose voice is deepening, steps away from the jab of the umbrella's sting. She will get him one day. They sit under the tree. The eldest little pirate is on a school break.

They take tea. Begin again. The umbrella breaks. The oldest pirate just threw the pieces in the garage's rubbish bin.

Two days later he will be weeping and throwing cans against the wall, breaking everything. He will pick up the umbrella pieces. He will sink to the ground. Cradling the pieces like a baby. Rocking back and forth.

His father will find him, dirty and snotty and his black suit ruined with oil and dirt and bits of grass and tree bark. He hates black. He will not wear black. He vows from then forward he will never wear black.

For today, she focuses on fighting him and winning. He focuses on dodging her attempts to strike him. 

 

They have all the time in the world. 


	10. Chapter 10

Love of siblings is carried through a lifetime. Fighting, spurring, playing. 

Sherlock loved Redbeard. 

Redbeard lived to age 12 because of Ginny. 

Ginny, sweet girl, feisty one, pirate queen, was buried in her boots and her token in her hand. 

Ginny's token, you ask?

A violin string wrapped around a pocket watch. The eldest pirate always wanted waistcoats with pocket watches when he was older. The youngest pirate played violin but didn't put much heart into it. But Ginny loved to listen to him play. She loved to swing her pocket watch around as she bossed. 

If she were lost, shipwrecked, she would find her baby brother playing violin or the eldest carrying a pocket watch. For good measure, Sherlock kept the coat and Mycroft an umbrella. 

"To wear at all times. To keep with at all times," the littlest pirate whispered under the tree, with the initials carved, "when we are old and gray and she comes for us, she may not recognize us. But we keep these, she'll know it's us."

They promised under the tree. Crying and mixing a paste of mud in their palms so they shook on it. Their promises. 

Remember Redbeard. 

You are more important. 

Do not run across so quickly where I cannot follow. 

I love you.


	11. Chapter 11

Many last words are whispered over sniper rifles. 

Runaway cars. 

Waiting on a bomb that ticks away. 

Whispers of _remember Redbeard_ at the side of a country road while words slur and leave no other exaltation. No last demand or request. Two words that nearly don't make sense. 

two little boys were shipwrecked 

remember Redbeard 

don't leave me

I love you

I heard you

I know


	12. Chapter 12

The pirate boys come home and smoke near their tree. They are older, so they do not sit at its trunk as they've done in years past. They stand, on the sidewalk. 

Their mother doesn't go outside to talk with them. She didn't care about the smoking. She needs a reason to open the door. She calls outside, "Are you two smoking?"

Were you weeping at the tree? 

I wish she were here. 

Don't go out of my sight. 

 

Remember Redbeard.

I love you.


End file.
